- Ultramajic is the perfect home for Dance System, the hardware-made, ghetto house-sourcing side project of L-Vis 1990. When the Brooklyn-based Night Slugs co-head operates in this retro headspace—as on the first Dance System EP, not to mention Circuits and Club Constructions Vol. 1—things get especially clear-cut, repetitious and seedy, just like Jimmy Edgar's label. So even if System Preferences doesn't appeal to house fans across the board, it'll certainly resonate with Ultramajic followers who like their tunes with some bite.
Where System Preferences improves on the previous Dance System 12-inch is color—the spectrum here isn't a full rainbow, but L-Vis fills each production with some choice neon hues. "Safe Mode (Extended Mix)" flashes bright red synth patterns over its rolling drum machines, the bloopy stagger of "DOS 4" is all green lasers and yellow warnings, and "Turbulence" flickers kaleidoscopically like a broken Lite-Brite. But all that pomp is only worthwhile because of the beats they adorn, which is where L-Vis plays it too straight. Dance System had a solid way with groove and rhythmic abandon; Preferences leans heavily on sturdy 4/4s, high tempos and volume. The record's best track, "Safe Mode (Extended Mix)," excels thanks to constant snare flurries and layer upon layer of syncopation, whereas the other two stick with rigid figures and blown-out bedlam. And yet despite their shortcomings, these tracks quickly whip up a retro-futuristic blast.
TracklistA1 Safe Mode (Extended Mix)
B1 DOS 4
B2 Turbulence